Croatia held out for the victory despite some late pressure to move onto 13 points in Group A.

In other early matches in UEFA qualifying, Bulgaria dismissed Malta 6-0 at home, with Aleksandar Tonev hitting a hat-trick in Sofia.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's brace helped Iceland come back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 against Slovenia in Ljubljana.

Albania earned a 1-0 victory against Norway in Oslo, courtesy of a Hamdi Salihi goal, while Liechtenstein and Latvia drew 1-1 in Vaduz after the countries traded first-half strikes.

Turkey got past Andorra 2-0 at Andorra la Vella, but neither Slovakia nor Luxembourg could secure home wins - with the former denied in a 1-1 draw against Lithuania in Zilina, and the latter held to 0-0 by Azerbaijan in Letzebuerg.

In later results, Montenegro scored with 10 men to beat Moldova in Chisinau, with Mirko Vucinic netting the winner on 78 minutes before their opponents also finished with 10 due to a 90th-minute dismissal.

Austria ran over the Faroe Islands 6-0 in Vienna, while Denmark were comfortable 3-0 winners over the Czech Republic in Olomouc.

Romania equalised in second half injury time to salvage a 2-2 draw with Hungary in Budapest, while Bosnia-Herzegovina were helped by an Edin Dzeko brace in their 3-1 victory over Greece in Zenica.

Ukraine stunned Poland 3-1 in Warsaw, Belgium saw off Macedonia 2-0 in Skopje, and Wales produced a stirring comeback to beat 10-man Scotland 2-1 in Glasgow.